A German physicist has found a revolutionary way to make games like Rockstars “GTA 5‘ even on a 1989 Game Boy. But how did he do it exactly?
Playing “GTA 5” with the Game Boy: This is how it works
Sebastian Staacks is not only a physicist, but also a drummer. However, his latest discovery has little to do with either of German’s preferences. Using a self-developed streaming cartridge, he managed to get “GTA 5” onto a Game Boy that was over 30 years old.
As he explains in his YouTube video, the technical requirements of the Game Boy are of course not sufficient to play a blockbuster title like “Grand Theft Auto 5”, which is a bit old but still demanding. He uses some kind of WiFi cassette to stream the game.
“I play ‘GTA 5’ on the Game Boy,” he explains in the video, “but it doesn’t run on the Game Boy itself. The game is rendered by my PlayStation and then streamed to the Game Boy via WiFi. When I press that one button, the signal is in turn sent back to the PlayStation, where it is processed and allows me to control the game,” he continues.
Further modifications needed
Of course, that’s not all, because in order for a game like “GTA 5” to run properly on a device that is over 30 years old, adjustments at the software level were also necessary. So Staacks made it his mission to bring the fully 3D animated, HD rendered game to a screen that works with a 160×144 pixel resolution. To do this, he painstakingly took apart individual images of the game and put them back together in individual pieces as a kind of pixel heap.
While an olive green, pixelated version with two usable buttons is probably not the best way to play GTA 5, there is recognition and respect from the internet community for the physicist’s achievement. He himself is probably already working on a new project, as he says on Twitter reveals.
We have already reported in more detail elsewhere on how his Game Boy works with WLAN. And with an appropriate Game Boy emulator, you can even get the handheld on your smartphone or PC.
Sources: ign, there oughta be on YouTube